Wyoming Falls To Iowa, 24-3

The positive is that the Wyoming defense played pretty well.

Big plays, or lack thereof, is one reason why the Wyoming Cowboys came up short losing, 24-3 to the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Cowboys offense could never get going in this game in either the passing or ground game.

Josh Allen had a chance to show his draft stock was for real and worthy of being a potential first-round pick. He had some solid throws but overall Allen had a rough day by completing 23 of 40 passes for only 174 yards and no touchdowns.

Allen was harassed in the second half and was unable to find any player down field in the deep passing game. This was the first time since last year’s game against Eastern Michigan in which Allen did not have a passing or rushing touchdown.

One play that could have made the difference was a deep pass to a wide open C.J. Johnson in the end zone but the ball bounced off of Johnson’s chest and he was unable to regain possession in bounds.

Had that been a touchdown it would have made it a 21-10 game late in the third quarter, but instead the Cowboys ended up getting zero points as a 49-yard field goal went wide left.

Another key play that had a profound impact on this game was a whiffed punt by true freshman Tim Zaleski. This missed punt led to a Hawkeyes touchdown late in the second half.

The Cowboys defense played fairly well in this game as they forced two turnovers but were unable to convert any of those into points. However, as expected the ground game is what led Iowa offensively. Akrum Wadley had 116 yards and former Nevada running back chipped in with 47 yards on 10 carries.

Nathan Stanley was efficient throwing the ball going a modest 8 of 15 for 125 yards but he also had three touchdowns.

What we learned:

Wyoming needs to find a way to have a downfield passing attack because it was basically non-existent in the loss to the Hawkeyes.

Replacing running back Brian Hill is going to be extremely tough. The duo of Milo Hall and Kellen Overstreen had just 24 yards. The longest run came from Josh Allen which was 11 yards. Taking away Allen’s rushing numbers, which include sack yardage, and the Cowboys had just 71 yards on the ground.

The defense is pretty much as advertised. There were a few hiccups like allowing Wadley to gain 23 yards on a 3rd and 21 and the rush defense which has been a major concern entering this game only allowed the Hawkeyes to rush for 3.4 yards per attempt. Overall, they did a decent job by giving up only 248 yards and held the Hawkeyes to 4 of 13 on third downs but Iowa converted both fourth down attempts.